XL (2006) Steelers 21, Seahawks 10 -- Both quarterbacks awful. Only strong memory was the terrible officiating. Signs everywhere proclaimed it 40th Anniversary. I got into at least 50 arguments. Super Bowl 40 is not a 40th Anniversary, I explained. Just as the day of your wedding is not the first anniversary. The only argument I got was, "We've made the signs already."

CHARMLESS C's

X (1976) Steelers 21, Cowboys 17 -- Like an idiot I followed the official directive to proceed downstairs with five minutes left, ("TV monitors will be provided"). Thus I neatly schnookered myself out of watching the end of this exciting contest, saved by a Glen Edwards end zone interception. We were herded into a room with no monitors, my howling and hand wringing went for naught. I can't cheer about something I didn't see, but I never heeded that foolish dictum again.

BUSY B's (B-, B+, plain B)

XXX (1996) Cowboys 27, Steelers 17 -- Another B-. Larry Brown's two interceptions of Neil O'Donnell's mishaps earned him MVP, and why, you ask, does this rather mundane affair get a decent grade? Only because the game was in Phoenix, and attending the contest was my new girlfriend, a flamingly red-headed Phoenix beauty named Linda Lou Bailey.

XIII (1979) Steelers 35, Cowboys 31 -- Yeah, it was exciting, with a recovered onside kick at the end and then Rocky Bleier recovering the final one, but this was the heyday of the America's Team arrogance and I wanted to see the Cowboys crushed not merely beaten. Call it B-
IX (1975) Steelers 16, Vikings 6 -- The rise of the Steel Curtain against a typically inept Minnesota entry. Famous Pete Rozelle line at the next draft, after it's announced that Minnesota passes. "And L.C. Greenwood knocks it down." Straight B.

THE BEST, THE A'S AND A-MINUSES, IN REVERSE ORDER

No. 2, XIV (1980) Steelers 31, Rams 19 -- A game that held great personal appeal. A sociological study, The last hurrah of a great dynasty. The Steel Curtain starting to show a little age, a little tiredness, and then the feisty Rams smacking it to them on the ground, which people never did. And L.A. is driving for the kill when Jack Lambert drifts way back in the zone and picks one off, and then Terry Bradshaw hits John Stallworth for 73 yards, and the rebellion has been quelled. For the mighty Steel Curtain, darkness followed.

Have to rank X higher (and not only because I was there) - that was regarded at the time as the first great SB game (Jets-Colts was legendary but only because of the upset, not because of the quality of a pedestrian 16-7 game) and holds up today as both a tough competitive game between two legendary franchises & a game that featured the athleticism (Swann's catches) & physical play (Lambert slamming Cliff Harris to the turf after he taunted Gerela) that caused pro football to replace baseball as the most popular American sport.